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Officials Announce Finalists for Employer Awards

From an Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve News Release

ARLINGTON, Va., May 17, 2011  Thirty employers have been chosen as finalists for the 2011 Secretary of Defense Freedom Awards for their support of their employees who serve in the National Guard and reserves.

The finalists were selected from 4,049 nominations received earlier this year from Guard and Reserve service members or their families, said officials from Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency.

The Freedom Award is the Pentagon’s highest recognition given to employers for exceptional support of their employees serving in the military’s reserve components. A board selected the finalists from among 148 semifinalists announced last month.

Employers named as finalists for the Freedom Award stand out for the formal and informal initiatives they put in place for Guard and Reserve employees and their families, officials said. Supportive measures include accommodating their employees’ military responsibilities, making up the difference in military and civilian pay during deployments, continuation of benefits, sending care packages and providing personal support to the families of employees called away from home.

“Our nation’s employers have provided a high level of ongoing support for their military employees and their families even in the tough economic climate of recent years,” said James G. Rebholz, national chairman for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. “These 30 finalists have gone to extraordinary lengths to create a supportive culture within their workplaces, allowing our citizen-warriors to serve with the confidence that they are most appreciated and that their families are being cared for at home.”

A national selection board made up of senior Defense Department officials, business leaders and prior awardees will select 15 recipients for the 2011 Freedom Award. An announcement of award recipients is expected in early summer, and the recipients will be honored in Washington, D.C., Sept. 22.